Sony to Ban Home Abusers

Unlike other virtual life simulators like Second Life, Sony’s Home will be more strictly regulated. Markedly, that repeat offenders that abuse Home will be permanently banned from the application.

Peter Edward, director of the Home Platform Group, speaking about the project at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2007, stated that Home would be “safe.” He deemed other applications that are similar to Home as “anarchistic.”

Edward commented, “It’s a safe place for companies to promote their brand. There’s no danger of damage to the brand through anarchistic actions.”

Regarding the punishment for Home abusers, Edward stated, “Ultimately, and we don’t broadcast this, but we know the machine details, and we know where they live…So you can be disconnected, and have to move house and buy a new PS3 before you could get online again…Although obviously, we don’t want to do that too much.”

Perhaps the most interesting comment Edward had to say, was that the future of Home would be largely influenced by what the users decide to make of it. “We don’t know how people will use Home in the long-term.”